Turkey & Broccoli Strata
Ingredients
- 1 small-medium head broccoli, finely chopped use the stems!
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 small onion sliced into half-moons
- 1 stalk celery, sliced
- 3 cups cubed turkey breast or chicken
- 4 cups cubed bread I used most of a loaf of garlic-infused bread
- 1 tablespoon garlic and herb seasoning or Italian seasoning or Herbes de Provence
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cup milk
- 6 eggs
Instructions
This is not an overnight strata! Please prepare this when you want to serve it.
- Preheat oven to 350. Oil a 9x13 inch pan and set it aside.
- In a large skillet, saute the broccoli, garlic, onion and celery until the onions are soft and translucent. Remove from heat and stir in the turkey and bread. Scrape into the prepared pan and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the pieces, milk, and egg until well combined. Stir in the cheese. Pour over the bread and turkey mixture. Toss to evenly distribute all ingredients and smooth to form a fairly uniform layer.
- Allow the dish to rest 20 minutes.
- Bake 30 minutes or until browned a bubbly. Allow to sit 3-5 minutes prior to slicing.
Notes
- Cooked chicken works just as well as turkey!
- Any soft-ish bread should work! For best results do not use very dried-out or stale bread.
This has been a year and I didn’t get a chance to make a whole Thanksgiving menu to share as I have many times in the past but I couldn’t let Thanksgiving go by without at least one leftover recipe. They really are my favorite part!
This year we went to the Union Mills Christkindlmarkt in Westminister. It’s a working grist mill we’ve visited a few times over the years (we try to go to their annual corn roast which is a lot of fun) and were hoping to get some freshly milled flour but it wasn’t available. We did end up spending too much money on locally crafted goods including a loaf of garlic flavored bread that, when they handed it to us, was already sliced. It was a narrow loaf and we thought we’d add some cheese and more garlic and make well, garlic bread with it but these were thin small slices. I attempted skillet Pizza Hut style garlic bread but it was just too thinly sliced.
What do you do with too much bread? Make a strata! I think. As we all know, I did not grow up in a casserole household but some things have trickled into my consciousness. Normally stratas seem to be overnight affairs but I didn’t want this to be as heavy and egg as they tend to be. A quick rest is all you need for the bread to soak up enough to form a cohesive, sliceable dish but still retain some texture. It’s similar to another favorite of mine, baked frittata but a little less eggy and more bready. Both are perfect for using up odds and ends of vegetables (broccoli, celery) and some sort of protein, in this case, turkey.
